a Lesson in Waltzing
by YellowBirdForOne
Summary: a girl searches for childhood friend (yup- it's one of those types.)
1. the christmas eve

_Christmas Eve, 1893_

The small orchestra played a waltzing melody from the ballroom, where the adults danced and talked happily.  A small, plain girl of nine sat by the banisters, where she could hear the music and see the beautiful dresses the women twirled so gracefully in downstairs.  Even at such a young age, she knew she could never grow to be one of them.  She was alone as far as she knew, taken in by the good graces of a wealthy Italian family to help clean up after their only son, who was almost a year older than her.  

            Entranced by the beautiful waltz, she snuck into the empty study, lighting one of the lamps.  Even though she never learned how to dance, she loved to pretend she could.  Accepting an offer to dance from a handsome imaginary boy, she swept across the small space, trying to make as little noise as possible in her old, worn lace up boots.  She imagined herself in one of those beautiful dresses, her black hair elegantly styled, and finally looking….beautiful.  

            She heard someone clear their throat near the door.  Her fantasy melted into the lamplight as she spun around.  The ten-year old Italian boy, dressed in an expensive suit leaned against the doorway, laughing at her.  She felt her cheeks grow hot as she tried to push past him through the doorway.  He caught her, and pulled her back into the room.

            "Do you want me to show you how?" he asked

            "How to what?"  The girl responded, still embarrassed.

            "Aw, come on Claire.  Do you want me to teach you how to waltz?"  A shocked Claire blinked rapidly a bit at the boy, before nodding her head.  She was surprised he knew her name, and even more that he would talk to her as if she were a person.  The most contact she had with him was when he told her to grab the laundry from his room or told her to run downstairs and grab him something to eat.

            He removed the jacket of his suit, throwing it over a chair and rolling up the sleeves of his crisp, white shirt.  He walked towards her, and suddenly stopped.

            "Oh, wait" He said running back to his coat and pulling the red carnation from it.  

            He bowed to Claire, offering the flower. 

            "May I have this dance?"

****************************************

            *claps for her first story* there is a small casting call, for about five people.  I'll need:

vaudeville performers newsgirls any other kinds of characters you can think of 

send it in a review if you wanna be cast (please answer!  I would owe you my first born!)

Name/nickname:

Looks:

Personality:

Guy:

Anything else:

***go waaay into detail with this, if u don't mind!!!!!!

Oh yeah….sorry.  Spot and Racetrack are already taken.

email me:

fivefoldr@netscape.net

a1kutekat@aol.com

instant message me:

**fivefoldr**

**love,**

***~CABBY~***


	2. meet the performers

_6 years later_

"ACK!! NO!! IS MY NOSE CROOKED???!!!"

Fluke's brown eyes widened in horror as she examined her nose at all angles in the small hand mirror she held.  True, it had once been broken, but had the break made it crooked as well?   Why had she never noticed it then???

"Alright, here is a question- if your boyfriend has a difficulty with depth perception due to an eyepatch, will he notice a misaligned nose?"  Fluke inquired, panicked.

"I wouldn't think so" said Cabby to comfort the normally laid-back Fluke.  "Besides, it isn't crooked"

****

            Cabby, or Claire as she had once been called, had changed drastically from the plain nine-year old of six years ago.  The once-shy girl had morphed over time into a fearless sort of person, sometimes quiet and pensive, but up for any dare.  Her thick black hair cascaded to just below her shoulders, framing a pretty, angular face with round eyes and soft features.  She was petite, thin and short, with barely any noticeable curves.

Cabby had been in New York for the past six years, searching at first for someone she had known- the only person left that she had in her life.  She never found him and out of money and out of hope, she gave up.  Three years ago, Raven had found her ineptly attempting to pick pockets and took her in, getting her a job dancing with the vaudeville troupe she starred in and vowing to teach her how to pick pockets _without _getting caught- a skill she had learned from her sister.

Raven was seventeen and absolutely stunning.  She generally seemed pretty tough, but all the other performers knew she cared about them.  She had been running the nightly shows when her best friend and Brooklyn leader Spot Conlon had found a small, empty theater across the street from the lodging house and appointed her to keep it in shape.  She put together a small group of 4 other girls to perform and live there:

Raven herself

Cabby

Shamrock- a tall Irish girl.  She's the most educated out of all of them and Cabby, who never learned to read, looks to her for help in those matters- a secret between the two.  Shamrock seems perpetually nervous- pacing around a lot and wringing her hands.

Ershey- the source of constant laughter, energy and fun around the theater.  She is always trying to make up excuses to drag everyone over to Manhattan- the home of the one and only Mush, Ershey's crush.  Ershey's newest excuse for after tonight's show is to bring Cabby to Manhattan- the only borough she has never been to after six years of living in New York.

Fluke: Cabby's best friend and confidante.  Fluke and Cabby are the two troublemakers- not by any fault of their own, but they often dare each other to do outlandish stunts, which neither of them back down from.  Fluke is of the sort that doesn't get too easily frazzled or emotional and is very easy to trust with everything.  But even through that Cabby has never told her or anyone else about her past, or who she had been searching for before finally giving up. 

****

Cabby inspected Fluke's nose, laughing to find absolutely nothing wrong with it.  

"Just keep getting ready you guys!" yelled Raven as she pinned her long auburn hair into place and throwing a pair of stockings to Ershey, who seemed to have lost hers.  Ershey tried to put them on quickly and only succeeded to hop around frantically on one foot, falling over across the open book Shamrock had been reading while applying make-up.  

            Pulling a chair up to the mirror, Cabby watched the scene unfold as she put the finishing touches to her make-up.  

Raven stood up, surveying the chaos of the room. 

 "Alright, let's go now" she walked from the dressing room to the wings of the stage, where the other girls followed.

            Despite having done this almost nightly for three years, there was an almost tangible amount of nerves in the air.  They linked hands and murmured the much uttered 'prayer' of theirs:

_Please let us remember what to do_

_Please strengthen the knots of our shoelaces_

_Please let the audience enjoy this too_

_Please let us not fall on our faces!_

            Thanks for the reviews!!  

If you don't see your character here already, you are probably one of the newsgirls or someone who will appear later on in the story.

I hope I got pretty close to the characters you guys intended.  If I made a mistake, please e-mail me about it or send it in a review.

Love,

***~CABBY~***


	3. ever so offended

Another chapter!! 

TO CLEAR UP SOME CONFUSION: the main character is Cabby-the same girl Race danced with in the first chapter.  Six years later, Cabby is in New York dancing with a vaudeville theater.  She originally came to new york to find Race, but she couldn't.  

            And another thing: _nobody's nose is crooked_.  Fluke (cabby's best friend) thought her nose was crooked (which it isn't), it had been broken a couple years earlier because…. Some reason or another which I really don't know.  

Oh goodness, I forgot the disclaimer!!!  

*looks around to see if anyone noticed*

The harsh truth is better when it is simply put:  Newsies = not mine

                                                                            Cabby = mine

                                                                             Other characters = their owners

I always wanna cry when I write the disclaimer.  For me it's like watching the last scene of _Tuck Everlasting_ (which, by the way, also is NOT mine)

            After the final curtain call,   the five performers ran into the wings of the small stage, eager to escape the heavy air of the brightly lit stage.  

"What time is it?  Can't we go somewhere tonight?"  Asked Cabby, eager to get out of the theater and spend the rest of the night on the town with her friends.

"It can't be that late, we should go somewhere, Raven.  The theater gets so dull sometimes." Fluke said, agreeing with her friend.

Ershey's eyes widened in excitement, and she swung her arms in huge arcs to get the other girls' attention.

            "I know where we should go!!! I know!!  Pick me!! Pick meeee!!!!"

Raven thought for a minute whether or not to close the club early and take them to Manhattan.  After all, it was just over the bridge, and she knew Spot would be happy to escort them.  And she might just be able to have a bit of time to spend with Jack.  Raven felt as if she hadn't seen him in forever, and there were a few female newsies over in Manhattan.  Not that her typical girlfriend worries had any basis in reality… Jack loved her more than anything else in the known world.

"How 'bout we go to Manhattan?  Spot can go with us."  She said, giving in to the thought of being near Jack.

Ershey launched into a victory dance, excited about the prospect of seeing the object of her not-yet-proclaimed attraction, Mush.  Shamrock ran upstairs to grab the coats, wondering what the Manhattan newsies look like- Shamrock was pretty much a flirt.  

Cabby, on the other hand, frowned at the last part of Raven's statement.

"Spot Conlon?  You're letting Spot walk us over there?"  

Cabby wasn't exactly a fan of Spot.  

When they first met, Cabby felt uneasy around him.  which was perfectly understandable, taking into consideration his attitude and place among Brooklyn.  Spot immediately picked up on that and gave her a hard time bout it.  When he talked to her his conversation was laced with arrogance, and sarcasm.  To this day, he knew she didn't like him and did all that he could possibly do to make her angry with him.  Raven forbid her to say or do anything against him.  This limit drove Cabby to frustration, but it wasn't without a grain of reason: he was one of Raven's best friends, the authorized owner of the theater, and the owner of the streets of Brooklyn- the only place she had as a home.  So she avoided him as much as humanly possible.

"Can't we just go by ourselves? I mean, what could happen?"  

Even Cabby could hear how incorrect her argument was.  They wouldn't be fine if they attempted to go to Manhattan at night.  They were five girls:  all of them wearing dark makeup and the revealing clothes that they wore for the stage.  She knew that they needed Spot.  She would just have to bite the bullet and bear him going with them.

Raven gave her a look and Cabby gave up.  Raven always had the final word in the matter.  Raven walked off to drag the club patrons outside so she could lock up.  

Cabby turned to Fluke, who was collecting the props and extra costume pieces from the side of the stage that were leftover from the show.

"I don't see why we have to bring Spot with us… there are other guys that would walk over with us.  Your boyfriend was out in the audience… couldn't he have gone with us?  Blink is nice enough to do that for us."  Cabby looked hopeful as she presented this idea to Fluke.

Fluke laughed at her friend's unwillingness to be anywhere near Spot.  Sure, Spot bothered Cabby an awful lot, but he wasn't a bad guy.  Quite the contrary.  It was because of him that they all had a roof over their heads.  He occasionally took them out to dinner when he won a poker game.  Even though he was pretty arrogant at times and a notorious womanizer, Spot was a pretty great guy. 

"Sorry Cabby, Blink already went back to Manhattan.  Although if he knew we were going there too, I'm sure he would have waited for us."  

"NOOOOO!!!!!"  yelled cabby, sinking to the floor in mock despair. 

Shamrock appeared with the coats in hand, and Ershey excitedly dragged them to the doors, where Raven and Spot waited.  

Spot smiled to see them.  He looked directly at Cabby and smiled cockily.  She looked at him, wary of what he would say next

"Aww Cabby… I hear you aren't too happy with me accompanying you girls to Brooklyn.  If you prefer, I could just let you guys walk alone."

Raven elbowed Spot angrily.  Obviously Raven had mentioned how Cabby felt about him walking with them and told him of it.  She probably told him so he would stop causing trouble between them.

Cabby forced a sweet smile and shook her head slightly.

"No, not at all.  I'm rather looking forward to the walk with you."

She shrugged her coat on and walked out of the club and into the cold snow, her heels digging into the freshly fallen snow.  This winter night was a calm one.  The streets were nearly empty, most people had gone to the warmth of their homes or ducked into a warm bar or restaurant.  The girls pulled their long coats over themselves.  They were poorly dressed to handle the cold; they wore extremely shortened skirts and tight, thin, strapless shirts.  The thick knee-length coats were their only barrier between themselves and the cold that came this mid-December.  And as much as Cabby hated to admit it, Spot had been very generous to supply the girls with those coats.

As the small group passed over the bridge, Raven looked over the edge of the railing, into the sloshing dark waters of the river.  Cabby felt a little queasy, thinking of the long fall to the water below.  She involuntarily shuddered, wishing Raven would come away from the railing.  

To ignore her feeling of uneasiness about the bridge, Cabby watched her feet as they shuffled through the snow.  Something about how the snow fell so lightly from the sky evoked memories from her past

 She remembered being taken in by a wealthy family to work as a servant in their large home.  It took her awhile to pick up the language they spoke, Italian.  She remembered how stupid she felt at first, not being able to understand the orders she was given.  But that changed and she soon learned the language fluently.  Although Shamrock also spoke Italian, Cabby never let on to the fact she also knew it.

She could recall the lavish holiday parties that they threw this time of year, the smell of the wine and the sound of the music.  She used to sit by the banister that looked over the large hall they danced in, taking in the spectacular event with all the simple enthusiasm of a little girl that was never able to experience it first-hand.

But most of all, she remembered the night she lost it all.

***

_It was a few days after the New Year, and Claire was having trouble falling asleep.  Something wasn't right, she could feel it.  The house creaked on its foundation and ambiguous shadows danced on the walls of her tiny room.  Cold seeped in from the small iron-barred window above her bed, a window that was the size of a book._

_Finally having enough of just sitting there, frightened, she quietly got up and left the room, slipping quietly through the halls.  She went through the kitchen door, leading to the outside gardens in the back of the mansion.  _

_Claire walked, admiring the way the tiny snowflakes fell, pretending she was visiting heaven, seeing the mother she never really knew, a mother that had died and left her at an orphanage when she was a baby.  _

_She didn't realize how far she had walked, for now she was hopelessly lost in some unknown wooded area.   A little tired, she sat down at the base of a tree to wait for the light of morning, so she didn't get lost even further in the darkness.  Somewhere in that time she waited, Claire fell asleep.  _

_The smell of acrid flames woke her up.  Confused for a second as to where she was, she looked up in the sky and saw glowing smoke.  With a sickening realization, she ran towards the direction of the fire, realizing it was her home.  _

_By the time she made it back, the house was beyond any sort of saving.  No one was standing outside the house.  She was alone.  Alone with a burning building.  The only home she ever had.  _

_Unable to handle the reality of what happened, she ran back into the woods.  Falling to the base of the tree to cry herself to sleep in the softly falling snow.  She had nothing left.  Even the gold pocket watch that  her mother left her with._

_The next day, she went into town.  Upon asking at the police station, she learned of what exactly had happened.  The cause for the fire wasn't known, but everyone in the house had died in the fire.  Except the boy.  He had escaped before the flames reached his room by climbing down from his balcony.  Early this morning he was seen taking a train to _New York City___._

_Claire felt a kind of sadness.  Had she expected him to take her too?  No, certainly not.  He had never paid attention to her.  Until that Christmas Eve party. The next day, she took a train to __New York City__.  She had to find him_

_***_

"CABBY!! CABBY!! Are you in there??"  A hand waving in front of her face brought Cabby back to reality.  Fluke laughed as Cabby tried to figure out where they were.  A sign said it all:

**NEWSBOYS LODGING HOUSE.******

They walked inside the run down building.  Some of the guys and girls were in the 'lobby' of the lodging house.  Raven immediately ran up the stairs, to the bunkroom where Jack was.  Spot walked around, talking with some of the newsies.

Blink poked his head out of the door at the top of the stairs and saw Fluke by the front entrance.  He grinned and waved, as he raced down the stairs.  He lost his footing and fell, tumbling down the stairs at an alarming rate.  He landed in a heap at the bottom, to the laughter of everyone in the room.  Blink raised himself to his feet, looking sheepish at his stumble.  

"That was a really smooth one!"  yelled one of the guys that had to dive out of the way of the falling Blink.  

Ershey grabbed Cabby's arm and said in a hushed voice, 

"That's him!  You know- HIM!"  

Cabby looked at what Ershey was talking about.  

"You mean Mush?" said Blink, walking over to Fluke.  "You know… he's single.  HEY MUSH! YOU GOTTA GET OVER HERE!!!  Blink suddenly yelled that last part so loud that everyone in the immediate area flew in the air.

Mush turned around and came over to see what his friend wanted, smiling shyly at the girls.  Shamrock pushed a scared-looking Ershey forward.  Ershey smiled weakly and attempted to introduce herself.

"i-i-i- uh.. i'm…umm"  

"what I think she means to say is.." Shamrock piped up from behind the stuttering girl, "….is that she was wondering if you would like to take a walk with her.  So you can get to know each other better."

"it's because she likes you."  Blink outwardly stated this and Ershey's dark almond-shaped eyes widened with embarrassment.

Mush blinked rapidly for a moment.

"Really???" he said, trying to keep a cheesy grin from engulfing his features.  He looked at Ershey and blushed, saying quietly, "so… do you wanna take a walk with me?"

"okay that's settled" yelled shamrock, throwing the couple out of the door before Ershey even accepted his offer.

Fluke and Blink then left the lodging house, heading in a different direction.  

Being completely unfamiliar with the Manhattan newsies, Shamrock and Cabby stood by the door, not talking with the others in the room.

Cabby noticed one of the guys in the room staring in their direction.  She nudged Shamrock and whispered,

"I think blondie over there is checking you out.  You should go talk to him"

"are you gonna be fine by yourself?"

"Yeah… I'll find something to do" Cabby said, watching Shamrock walk over to flirt.

With everyone else paired off, Cabby was now by herself, standing awkwardly under the appraising glances of the people in the room.  Like most newsies, they mostly kept to themselves- cautious of newcomers.

Looking around for something to do, she itched to try out what Raven had been teaching her for the past few weeks.  Just as she had promised when the two had first met, Raven had taught her the fine art of pick pocketing.  With that aim in mind, she scanned the room for her target.  A glint of gold caught her eyes and her sharp mind quickly formed a plan to snatch the gold pocket watch from its owner, a short, dark-haired Italian newsie.

He was coming down the stairs as Cabby approached him.  She smiled at him and he inclined his head in a small bow…then continued on his way.  As he passed her, she was too shocked to grab anything from his pocket.  He just walked past her.  Like it was nothing, he didn't even look twice at her!

Though she wasn't arrogant or egotistical, Cabby knew she was very beautiful. And at the moment, she knew she was very snubbed.  Never, in the past three years had she had trouble attracting any guy she wanted.  Beside herself with puzzlement, she followed the Italian boy down the stairs.  She decided to try again.  She again smiled, this time introducing herself and turning up any sort of charm she possessed.  

"I'm Cabby.  And I couldn't help but notice you as you walked down the stairs."  She was still fazed by how he had walked past her, and her urgency to find out why he had failed to acknowledge her was apparent

"well…"  said the guy in a heavily accented voice, "I'm Racetrack.  And I'm also not interested."  He said this in a very even voice, with all the characteristics of a polite refusal.

Daunted by his unambiguous rejection, Cabby stared in amazement at Racetrack, tilting her head as if inquiring after an explanation.

"let me get this straight- YOU are turning ME down?  It's….it's…impossible."

Racetrack smiled and slightly chuckled at how flustered Cabby was.

"Actually, doll-face, it's quite possible.  It's even happening as we speak.  For, you see, I'm not interested in girls like you.  Even I have got my pride.  And if I **_bought_** my attention from women, then what kind of person would I be?  So… it was very nice meeting you, Cabby, but I'll be on my way."

Her feelings of shock gave way to a wave of fury and humiliation.

"Wha-what do you think I am exactly??"  She growled at him.

"I honestly don't care."  Racetrack responded coolly, resting his hand on the banister of the rickety wooden stairs.

"well, whatever it is you are thinking, you are very much mistaken.  I don't have to take this from you.  I never asked you to judge me, you silly little boy!"

Racetrack laughed a harsh mocking laugh as he lit a cigar.

"a 'silly little boy'?  whoa… I'm _ever so_ insulted."

Close to frustrated tears, Cabby brushed past him deftly slipping her hand into his pocket and unchaining the watch.  Raven had taught her well.  He didn't realize it was gone.  As soon as she was fully past him, she slipped the watch into the inside pocket of her coat.  She walked outside, sitting down near the entrance and allowing the night air to cool her cheeks.  

'A silly little man?'  

Cabby could have kicked herself.  Racetrack was right, that was one of the lamest comebacks she had ever spoken.

A female voice spoke from behind her.

"May I join you?" 

Cabby spun around to see a female newsie behind her.  She was of a normal height, looked to be her age and had dark brown hair with vibrant red natural streaks darting through it.

Cabby nodded silently and the girl cleared the snow off the seat before she sat down.  

"Racetrack isn't usually so much of a jerk… he's just is kind of judgmental of the kinds of jobs some people have to do so they can survive."  

Her chocolate brown eyes were laced with compassion.  Later on, Cabby would come to know that it was a rare moment, the sarcastic girl hardly ever felt sorry for a complete stranger.  

"Oh, but- I'm not a prostitute!"  Cabby blurted out, not wanting to be mistaken for the second time in ten minutes.

The girl looked slightly embarrassed.

"I'm really sorry!  I didn't realize…"

"It's alright.  Really.  I've been mistaken before.  I just never experienced the reaction Racetrack had."  Cabby laughed, although thinking of Racetrack brought back her humiliation.

"I'm Camaderie" said the other, grinning.  "And again- I'm really sorry."

Sorry I took so long to update!!

In case you're wondering, I'm slowly trying to add in the characters that responded to the casting call, so if your character hasn't appeared yet, they will.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed… its much appreciated.

To everyone that reads and doesn't review….

Thank you for reading anyway…..

*sniff*

…..I'm sure there is a very good reason that you don't click the little review button and quickly write something……

*double sniff*

……and I know that if you knew how much heartbreak you cause me that you would review out of the kindness of your heart…….

*starts leaking tears*

…..and if you knew how long I slaved over a keyboard and procrastinated on my homework…..

*now sobbing and in desperate need of tissues*

REVIEW!!!! OH, PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!  I WOULD OWE YOU HALF A NEWSIE!!!!

**Love,**

***~CABBY~***


	4. the rest of the Manhattan visit

(A/N)- thanks for the reviews!!!! Sorry it's taken so long for me to update again….it's just being caught up in all the school-stuff and ballet's getting really hectic cuz of the Nutcracker.  But im here now, so it's all okay!!!

About my character (Cabby) - I am trying as hard as I can to not make her a Mary-sue.  If I'm failing utterly, please let me know.  She's supposed to be kind of unlucky and very imperfect- and always on the receiving end of the bad situations she stumbles into.  And I'm really sorry if Racetrack is coming across as a jerk… I couldn't just have him see her, recognize her and fall in love… that would just kill the plot!!  Anyways… he's not really a jerk for no reason; I'm explaining his mean reaction to Cabby in this chapter.  Thanks for being patient with the long time between updates and flawed characters!!

*******

Camaderie and Cabby sat in a warm silence, staring at the falling snow against the black sky.  At length, Camaderie stood up and nodded toward the door.

            "I'll introduce you to the rest of the girls if you'd like"

Cabby smiled and nodded, grateful to have met someone so friendly when she had felt so embarrassed and alone.  

_Damn that Racetrack. _She thought as she followed the newsie through the lobby.

_ But he'll get his due returns.  It was like that 'thing' Shamrock had been talking about… some religion from far away that said if you're mean or anything like that, it would come back and bite you.  What's it called? Kooma, Kamo….something like that.  I can always ask Shamrock later.  Whatever it was, it was gonna get a nice chunk of the stupid kid that crossed me.  _Cabby smiled softly to herself, remembering his watch in her coat pocket.

_Ha… roll that in a cigar and smoke it!_

_****_

Camaderie led Cabby to a small room to the side of the main lodging room, on the second story of the building.  In the room, a few female newsies were sprawled across the bunks- obviously relaxing after the day's work.  Some looked up to acknowledge the two girls entering the room, and one of them rose to her feet to greet Camaderie.  In spite of her entering with Camaderie, each of the girls fixed cold glances on her and shook their heads disapprovingly.

The girl who stood up to talk to Camaderie eyed Cabby suspiciously and whispered into Camaderie's ear.

            "What??!! No, Rebel, of course not!!!"  Camaderie pulled back, looking incredulous at what 'Miracle' had just told her.

            "hey, girls!! Girls!!! GIRLS!!!"  Rebel cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted to the room, her voice echoing off the peeling wall-papered walls.  The room looked up at her.

            "IT'S ALRIGHT!!!  SHE"S NOT A PROSTITUTE!!!!"  Rebel shouted, pleased to have the attention of the room.  Cabby recoiled in embarrassment and shock, attempting to shield herself from the situation she landed herself in.

Rebel turned to Cabby, her eyes dancing as she smiled in a friendly way.

            "I'm Rebel!  Sorry about that, we don't like when streetwalkers come by here… we gotta look after 'our boys'.  And if Skitts ever runs off with one of 'em, you could bet he'd find one of my leftover papers up his-"

            "ALRIGHT THEN!!!!"  Camaderie yelled, cutting off Rebel's threats.  Cabby liked Rebel.  She seemed friendly and energetic, the type of person you could get along with easily.

After Rebel's announcement, the atmosphere of the room grew a lot warmer as the girls looked at her in a different way.  Camaderie grabbed Cabby's arm, steering her around to the different bunks and introducing her to the newsies that lived there.   

            "That's Sparks" said Camaderie, acknowledging a girl in the top bunk.  Sparks shot up at the sound of her name, her blue eyes looking curiously at Cabby, smoothing her straight blonde hair before extending her hand.

Recognition dawned in Spark's eyes.

            "You dance at that theater in Brooklyn huh?  With Raven and Fluke?"  Cabby nodded, waiting for her to continue.

            "Spot took all of us when it first opened up.  That must have been about three years ago."

            "Was that the night I fell off of the stage?"  Asked the performer, reluctant to be acknowledged as 'the clumsy one'.

            Sparks laughed a bit.

            "No, it was the same night your shoe flew off and hit that bartender.  You know…the one that started to cry."

            "Good to know."  Cabby cringed, remembering when she had first started, plucked off the streets by Raven and barely able to dance.  Thankfully, she had improved beyond belief.  

A shout from the window interrupted the conversation.  Rebel stood by the window, a bucket of water poised to throw outside.

            "Hey! Miracle! Your boyfriend's here again!  I think he has a new song to sing for you!"  Rebel snickered evilly as she prepared to toss the water outside, onto the love struck boy's head.

One of the newsies with dark brown hair grudgingly walked to the window, sighing audibly out of frustration.  She looked outside.

            "Not him AGAIN!!!"  She frowned and shook her head.  "You would think he'd get the message…."

Sparks grabbed the soap box, as her, Camaderie and Cabby raced to the window, eager to catch a glimpse of the annoying suitor.

            "May I?"  Asked Rebel of Miracle, gesturing to the water in her hand.  Rebel turned to Sparks, who stood readied with the dry soap flakes.

            "Ready? On the count of three….. one, two, THREE!!!"

A loud splash of water and an anguished cry interrupted the love song from beneath the window.  The soap flakes rained down afterward, covering the young Romeo in white powder.  He spoke loudly toward the window, a comical sight in his current state.

            "How could the world be so cruel to pull apart two lovers such as us?"  The girls upstairs squealed with laughter as Miracle stayed hidden from view.

The hopelessly romantic guy continued, "I love you!!! One day, you'll realize your love for me!!"  

Kloppman, hearing the noise outside, appeared around the alley corner, chasing the sonnet-spouting kid away.  In peals of laughter, the girls slammed the window shut, falling to the floor laughing.  

****

Later on, everybody met together in the backroom of the first story for some cards.  The backroom of the lodging house was a pretty large room in the back, a few tables and chairs strategically placed for the newsies.  

The newsgirls and Cabby, now all close friends, went downstairs together.  When they reached the room, it was already packed with some of the Manhattan newsies.  

Ershey and Mush were there, cheeks slightly reddened from the cold outside and being anywhere near each other.  Both of them seemed to be having a fit of extreme shyness, because whenever their eyes met, they would quickly look away.  

Raven wasn't her usual toughened self around Jack, and all of the performers that lived with her noticed the definite change.  She glowed with a contented, joyful smile- a far cry from the exasperated frown she normally wore as she taught and rehearsed the songs and dances for the shows.  Jack, usually a strong, independent borough leader, couldn't seem to shake the slightly goofy grin that overcame him everytime he looked at Raven without her knowing.  

Fluke and Blink were there also, as was Shamrock and Dutchy.  Scanning the room, Cabby saw a few familiar faces, but mostly ones she didn't recognize.  The door entrance from the alley shot open, the sharp noise causing everyone in the room to look up to see who it was.  

Cabby instinctively knew who it was.  Reluctantly turning to look, she saw two figures stumble through the door.  A drunk Spot, and a drunk Racetrack- the only two people that could ruin a fun night for her.  

All previous thoughts of revenge on Racetrack flooded her head again as the watch in her pocket grew heavy on her mind.

Cabby wasn't a perfect person, as could be expected.  But within the past three years with Raven, Shamrock, Ershey, and her best friend Fluke, her world had turned around with a new sort of happiness.  Cabby was rarely ever sad or depressed anymore.  It was an emotion she had given up when she gave up the search for the boy she barely even knew.  To others, the offense taken from racetrack's insults seem completely out of proportion.  But the proud part that exists in every woman took over Cabby, and the somewhat drunk guy that stumbled in wasn't just another newsie.  He had refused to even know her and hurt her feelings a great deal.  For that….  Well, she would put him in his place.  Or at least try to.  

She never would get the better of him.  

She never got the better of anyone.

****

Racetrack saw her from the doorway he and Spot fell through.  They and a couple of other newsies had left when it had gotten boring to them.  And anyway, Racetrack had to leave.  That girl he ran into earlier bothered him.  Not just the type of 'bothered' when you're just annoyed with their actions.  He was bothered to the core with how she looked so much like someone he used to know… but that girl was gone now.  She would never come back.  And her memory shouldn't have been tarnished by that prostitute.  Why was she here anyway?  

            The somewhat drunken Italian stumbled toward the source of his aggravation.  He spoke to her, his words sounding loud over the silence that marked his arrival.  He fought the liquor clouding his head and the slur that threatened to engulf his speech.

            "Why are you still here?  Even we are too good for _you._"  He spat out that last word as if it disgusted him.

Cabby was at a loss for words, fighting the tears of humiliation forming in her eyes.

            "I… I… uh…"  How would she ever stand up for herself when she sounded like Ershey being tickled?

Raven sensed the helplessness of her friend who was completely unable to argue back.  Raven had a duty to the girl beyond friendship.  She looked after her, the same way she looked after Ershey, Fluke and Shamrock.  And Raven couldn't just sit back and watch Cabby sink lower in degradation in front of the silent newsies.  She spoke up from the table she sat at with Jack.

            "Cabby's not what you think.  She's one of us… you didn't act that way toward the rest of us.  Insult her, and you insult me."  Raven looked around at the other performers.  

            "And them, too."

Racetrack made a ridiculous sweeping bow at Cabby

            "My mistake, then.  Doesn't mean I think any higher of you, though."

Cabby shook her head, trying to convince herself it was the drunken state he was in that caused him to act that way.  She knew it wasn't true.  After all, he was the same way before he had left.  The lively chatter of the room seemed to immediately return as soon as it had gone.  Shakily, she lowered herself into a chair at the large poker table beside Fluke.  Fluke smiled at her cheerily, trying to make her forget about the incident before.

To Cabby's displeasure, Racetrack sat at the table and began to speedily shuffle and deal cards to the players around the table.  She refused to look in his direction as the players picked up their hands.  

****

If Raven had the choice, she would have stayed in Manhattan forever with Jack.  But she knew she had to take the girls home.  

She had to get Spot home to sleep off the liquor he had, and she had to get Cabby home so that the girls could cheer her up.  It was an unspoken ritual among them- they stayed awake in the upstairs bedroom of the theater the five of them shared, talking through what bothered them until they all felt better.  

Raven rarely ever spoke of what bothered her.  She had a terrible habit of keeping her problems hidden from them; after all, she was the one looking after them.  Raven put their happiness before her own so much, that even on nights like this, her time spent without them was mottled by thoughts of the four performers she had taken into her care.  

"We have to get going now."  She said at length, reluctant to speak the words.

She looked around the room at the people she had to take back to Brooklyn.  

Spot steadied himself as he rose to his feet from the poker table, shaking off the effects of the drinks from earlier.  This was easy for him… he was almost completely sober.

Ershey had fallen asleep, her head resting on Mush's shoulder.  He was softly stroking the dark hair, a gesture the normally shy newsie wouldn't have dared to do if she were awake.

Fluke and Blink were calmly playing a card game between themselves, as they talked and enjoyed the time alone.  Fluke raised herself to her feet from where she and Blink had been sitting on the floor.

Shamrock had been deep in discussion with Dutchy- probably the only other _extremely educated person in the room._

Cabby nearly upturned the poker table as she got up, eager to leave the lodging house and fall asleep at the theater.  She said her goodbyes to Camaderie, Rebel, Sparks, and Miracle- the only thing that kept her from wishing the Brooklyn Bridge was a lot longer.

As the Brooklyn group was leaving, Racetrack yelled from behind them.  

Cabby turned around, to find Race frantically searching his pockets, cursing loudly in a mixture of Italian and English.  

            "Where in the hell is my watch?!" 

Cabby broke free of the group and stepped forward.  The sound of her high heeled shoes clicked on the wooden floor, catching Race's attention.  Glaring at her, he crossed his arms and sank lower into his seat, carefully trying to control his extreme anger.

            "Where is my watch?" he asked again, locking eyes with Cabby.

For the first time that night, she had the upper hand on somebody.  And to her delight, it was Racetrack.

She took another step forward, speaking clearly in Italian.  She knew he understood.

            "You mean this?"  Cabby pulled the watch from her pocket, swinging it like a pendulum in the air.  She had never had a chance to look at it before, but now she saw it was slightly misshapen.

The other people in the room looked at each other in confusion, wanting to know what was spoken between the two.  The only other person who could translate was listening intently to every word.  Ershey, Fluke and Raven looked at Shamrock as if expecting an immediate translation of the conversation.

Racetrack's voice was a deadly calm

            "That isn't yours.  When did you take that?"

            "Oh… so I guess now you're _ever so offended_?"

            "Give it back."

The watch flew from her hand into his, glittering in the lamplight as it flew in the air.

            "It's really a messed up watch, you know." Said Cabby, fighting the mad urge to laugh.

            "A gift from a friend."  

            "I don't know who in their right mind would give you anything.  They must have felt sorry for you."

Without warning, Racetrack flew from his chair, lunging towards her.  She flinched noticeably as he was only a few inches from her face. He matched her in height, but at that moment she could have sworn he was a lot taller.

            "If you ever touch this watch again, I swear to every known deity that you will never set foot in Manhattan again."

            "Is that a threat?" Cabby asked, a look of amusement playing over her features.

            "Yes, that's a threat."  He finished, speaking in English.  Racetrack backed up, an odd smile pressing on his lips and an odd gleam in his eye.

****

Racetrack sat on the fire escape, watching the snow fall.  For the first time in years, he let himself remember.

**

_            the young Italian boy woke up in his large room.   Smoke swirled in from under the door, choking his throat and stinging his eyes.  _

_Fighting off the sleepiness, he groggily struggled to his feet.  He latched his small hand onto the brass doorknob, pulling back in pain as the hot metal scorched his palm.  Running out onto the balcony he searched for a way to exit the second story room._

_The thought of jumping caused his head to swim.  He crawled onto the trellises on the side of the balcony, trying to ignore the thorny roses that grew thickly on the lattice.  Inhaling sharply each time a thorn pierced his blistered palms, he managed to let go when he was a safe distance from the ground.  He could hear the grand chandelier crashing down in the ballroom and the crackling of his home.  _

_Running around the perimeter of the mansion as fast as he could, he saw nobody.  He was alone with the burning house.  As the top part of the house started to collapsed in, the sickening realization that he was alone took him over and he left._

_He left and took off toward the town.  after spending the night in a roadside ditch, the boy walked into the town, which was buzzing with the news of the fire.  He passed by an elderly lady talking to a policeman._

_            "…. Everyone in the house dead?  How dreadful….."_

_He never really knew his parents.  That barely bothered him.  It was the girl.  He never really knew her.  But he felt an unexplainable sadness about her.  Just in the wrong place at the wrong time._

_Even though it was the subject of every conversation, the townspeople failed to notice he was there.  But that was how he wanted it.  _

_Not being able to hear anymore talk about the fire, he found himself back at his mansion.  Or what remained of his mansion.  Walking into the wreckage of his house, a glint of gold caught his eye._

_Stooping down, he picked it up.  It was the watch.  The pocket watch that belonged to the orphan servant girl.  It was slightly misshapen from the fire, and when he opened it, it no longer worked._

_For reasons he couldn't understand at the time, he stuffed the watch into his vest pocket._

_Saying a final farewell to the life he lost in the fire, he made his way to the train station to take a train to __New York City__._

_**_

Racetrack knew it wasn't characteristic of him to act like that to anybody.  He wasn't even like that to real prostitutes.  Sure, he disapproved of what they did, but he kept his mouth shut.  But Raven's friend…..

Who cares how beautiful she was?  She still had the nerve to come in here looking so much like that girl he barely got to know.  But she was dead now.  And Racetrack didn't want things to remind him of that.

****

Back in Brooklyn, the girls were back at the theater after being dropped off by Spot.  

Extremely tired and not feeling like talking, Cabby silently crawled into bed, pulling up the blankets to shield herself from the winter air.

Shamrock caught Cabby just before she fell asleep.

            "Cabby?"

            "mmm?"

            "Why did you never tell me you spoke Italian?"

            "I don't know."

Cabby turned over in her bed to face the wall.  The rest of the girls took this as a sign she didn't want to talk, so they quietly talked among themselves.

            "I think Racetrack got what he deserved." Said Fluke through the darkness of the room.

            "Yeah…"  said Shamrock sleepily in agreement. "…Karma"

Smiling softly to herself, Cabby fell asleep.

********  

REVIEW!!! PLEASE!!!!!

Love,

***~CABBY~***


	5. taking a walk with Spot

(A/N) – sorry you guys, just took awhile again to update!!  I hope you're all still with me!  

Thanks to the reviewers… I feel so inspired…. I might just write another chapter!

Well, onward we go!

Disclaimer:  I seem to write these every other chapter or so, I can't seem to accept the reality!  I don't own Newsies… Disney does.

But if you ever want to, I'm sure we could grab some pitchforks and torches to storm the Magic Kingdom, and demand for that evil little mouse to release our boys!!!!

********

The morning rehearsal at the theater in Brooklyn was interrupted by the sound of the large double doors slamming open, allowing light to pour in the dim room.

The girls in the room groaned loudly at the sudden brightness.

"Good morning to all of you, too! You girls seem so happy to see me!"  A voice laughed and yelled jovially from the doors.

Shielding her eyes and turning around, Raven spoke to the visitor.

"Spot Conlon, must you always have a dramatic entrance?  Shouldn't you be selling papers or hungover or something?  You and that Racetrack seemed a _tad bit tipsy last night."_

"And miss gracing you with my presence this fine morning?  Not a chance!  Actually, I woke up too late to sell."  Said Spot, approaching the stage where they practiced their dance routines, letting the doors slam closed with a deafening thud.

Cabby, Fluke, Ershey and Shamrock seized this as a break and hopped off the stage, sinking into the front row of chairs.  They had been dancing all morning, and gladly welcomed anything that distracted their teacher and fellow performer.

"Did Bill let you in here?"  Asked Raven, raising an eyebrow at Spot.

Bill was one of the bartenders, a burly man who acted as a bouncer in the small Cabaret-styled theater.  Bill was there that morning, cleaning out the normally grubby bar.  It was awfully difficult for people to get in the theater during the day, especially when Bill watched the doors.

"Aww, Raven!  Your suspicious interrogations insult me!  Yes, Bill let me in."  Spot said jokingly, leaning on the back of a chair.

"Are you going to tell me why you're here, or should I just keep asking questions?"  Raven could hardly keep from smiling at her friend's antics, which were of a side she had never seen before.

True, Spot was a mercurial sort of person, his moods changing often and unpredictably.  But Raven, in all her years of knowing Spot, had never seen him like this.  He was laughing and joking, normally not actions attributed to his normally cool-headed impassiveness.

"Actually, I wanted to steal one of your friends for a moment."  Spot said.

"Are you going to specify which one you want to talk to, or shall they play _rock, paper, scissors_ to see who gets to be seen with you?"  Raven asked.

"Although that would be the _fair way, I need to see Cabby."_

Cabby, who had caught about every other word of their conversation, focused suddenly when she heard her name. 

"Huh?  Why do you need to talk to me, Spot?  Do you need someone else to brag about yourself to, since your mirror was too distracted by your oh-so-blue eyes to listen?"  Asked Cabby from her chair, her apparent dislike for Spot apparent in every word she spoke.

"Not exactly, Cabby.  I was just wondering if you'd like to take a walk and discuss an important matter with me.  That's all."  Spot said, throwing his arms in the air as a mock surrender.

Cabby reluctantly grabbed her coat, which was draped over the back of her chair.

"You better make it quick."  She said, annoyance stabbing her voice.

Raven grabbed Spot's arm and pulled him aside, saying in a low voice: "if you try ANYTHING with her, I will kill you.  Mark my words… you'll be dead.  D-E-D dead!"

"D-E-D?? What, will I be so dead that spelling doesn't matter?"  Spot laughed, narrowing his eyes at Raven in a joking manner.

And with that, he opened the double doors suddenly, causing everyone in the theater to blink rapidly again.  He held the door for Cabby, mockingly bowing as she walked through it and past him, her chin held defiantly high.

_Don't let him get to you…._

****

The streets of Brooklyn were completely different from the winter wonderland of the night before.  The once freshly fallen snow had become blackened and dirty, trudged upon and crushed under the heavy boots of the working class in Brooklyn.

A few steps outside in the cool air, Cabby's feet flew out from underneath her.  Her dancing heels held no traction against the ice that covered the path.  Falling hard against the ground, she had to lie still a moment to pull together her scattered senses.  Embarrassed by Spot's roaring laughter, she sat on the ground, trying to let her humiliation pass and find a way to get up without falling back down again.

"Wouldn't a gentleman help a girl up?"  She asked bitterly, raising herself to a sitting position.

"Then I guess it's lucky that I'm not a gentleman."

Cabby tried to stand up on her feet, only to fall unsuccessfully back onto the ice of the path.

"I'll make you a deal then," Spot said, suppressing his laughter, "I'll help you up if you listen to what I have to tell you.  Oh, yeah… and stop shooting dirty looks at me."

Cabby nodded quickly, and Spot grabbed her thin arm, lifting her up with a small tug.  Brushing the snow off her, Cabby looked at Spot expectantly.

"I believe there's something you need to tell me?"

Spot began to walk forward, Cabby matching his pace to follow him.  At length, Spot spoke.

"I see you had a run-in with Racetrack last night. Do you want to tell me your side of the story, or should I just trust his as the truth?"

Cabby turned at Spot to frown, but remembering the terms of their agreement, she looked at the ground again.

"He mistook me as a prostitute, and then he started to get all angry for no real reason at all."  

"Why did you even cross paths in the first place?  Racetrack's not very confrontational when it comes to girls.  Did you come on to him?"

"No! Of course not!"  Cabby said, starting to get angry and wondering what right Spot had to jump into her business.

Spot turned to look at her briefly.

"You know… Looks aren't everything.  You may be beautiful, but if you're vain, all the beauty in the world won't cover it up."

Cabby turned in disbelief to Spot.

"You brought me out here to insult me?  You don't even know me!  And besides that, what place do you have to throw yourself into matters that have nothing to do with you?"

Cabby turned around to head back to the theater.  Spot ran after her, grabbing her arm and spinning her around to face him.  

"I'm sorry, alright?  I never meant to say that you were vain.  It's just I've seen so many girls as pretty as you become the worst type of people.  I don't think any of your friends want to see that happen to you."

Spot looked so sincere that Cabby was having a hard time frowning at him.  Pulling three slips of paper from his coat, Spot looked at them and handed them to Cabby.

"Those are tickets to Medda's Christmas Eve ball.  It's kind of exclusive, and you need a newsie to get you a ticket.  I know that Fluke already has her ticket from Blink and Jack's already given Raven her ticket."

Counting the tickets in her hand, Cabby looked up at Spot.

"There's three here.  Who are they for?"  Cabby asked.

Spot looked at her quizzically.  Taking the tickets from her hand, he pointed to words handwritten on the paper.

"The names are written right there."

Cabby blushed furiously under the appraising stare of Spot.

"Oh…. I-I-I- I didn't see it."  Cabby said, trying to look completely unbothered.

Spot looked at her sympathetically, which made Cabby want to hit him.

"You can't read, can you?"

Trying to think of a good excuse and not able to, Cabby spluttered for a moment.  Spot, seeing her trapped, handed the tickets back to her.

"It's alright.  I'm not gonna tell anyone."

Cabby was half-grateful with Spot for taking it so lightly, and half-angry at him for pressing the subject.

Spot continued, 

"Anyway, it says here that Dutchy's inviting Shamrock, and Mush is sending this one for Ershey."

"And the third one?"

"Raven didn't think it was fair that the other girls were going and nobody invited you."  Spot said, shrugging.

"I swear, you brought me out here to remind me of everything that's wrong with me."  Said Cabby.

"Not everything that's wrong with you… I don't think I've even covered the important stuff.  Nah, I'm joking.  The third ticket's yours, I'm bringing you to the ball."

Trying to hide her shock, Cabby stared at him wide-eyed.

"You're only doing this because Raven asked you to."

"True."

"Watch out, I'm not sure I can handle such a kind, charitable act on your part, Spot Conlon."  Cabby finished, sarcastically. 

"I'll meet you at the theater, Christmas eve, an hour before the ball starts.  It's kind of a formal sort of affair.  So I don't expect you to be looking like a prostitute again."  Spot said, smirking at her.

Any sort of protest Cabby could think of was cut off when they arrived at the theater.  She walked in without saying goodbye to Spot. 

 Entering the stage area, Cabby flew down the aisle in excitement, waving the tickets in the air.

"We're all going to the ball!  All of us!!"  Cabby handed the tickets to Ershey and Shamrock.

The girls cheered, and Raven crossed her arms and leaned against the rickety stand-up piano they used. 

"It's tomorrow."  She said, "which leaves us not a lot of time to make our dresses with the rehearsals and everything."

One by one, the girls stopped celebrating, staring at their leader in distressed shock

Raven continued,

"So I guess we have to take today and tomorrow off."

In one movement, all five of the girls stormed the costume loft of their theater, searching through the bolts of material for something to make the perfect dress with.

******

Another chapter!!

Once again, thanks to the reviewers!  

Okay, so the Nutcracker performances are done! *sniff*  

Raven- I was a Merliton soloist.  Not the most exciting part, but oh well.  Last year I was Clara en pointe, and I got to dance a pas de deux with drosselmeir (spelling?).  Anyway, that was a lot more fun.  You dance???  What sort of dance do you do?

Kitty- I'll add you in during the ball.  That's in about two chapters… thank you for reviewing my story.

Love, 

**_*~CABBY~*_**


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